Ironic that all the devs being asked Leetcode algorithm optimization questions during their interviews don’t seem to be putting any of that to use where it actually matters!
Algorithmic optimization is more than just about asymptotic complexity; reducing that leading coefficient is equally important. Constant time is meaningless if the constant is measured in seconds.
It measures runtime, but not reliably, multiple runs of the same code can report very different runtimes. My impression is the focus is mostly on getting the time complexity right.
Suggestion (not for you specifically, just a general comment): never answer leetcode questions right away. Push back and ask the interviewer to describe the problem they're actually trying to solve. Probe their constraints - memory limitations, throughput. 99% of software isn't going to be the leetcode algorithm but the reasons for it being there. (Caveat: I haven't had to be in an leetcode driven interview for some years, and this probably doesn't work great with people that love algorithms more than getting something done.)
